Each year, for the past 18 years, I have taken my family to a beach house in Truro Massachusetts.  This annual vacation was carefully planned by my brother, @StephenButz, and myself.  All those years ago, it was our intention to create an annual vacation for our children.  One that they would always remember as our “family week” at the beach.  A week of swimming, sleeping in the sun, eating, laughter and, of course, sunburn.   We wanted to make these annual memories for our kids with the hope that they would ultimately continue the tradition with their own families.  And we did . . . . .

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What we didn’t anticipate though were the changes that would inevitably take place over the years.  We knew of course that the kids would grow and that someday we’d be sitting on the beach while they were out driving to Provincetown to bar hop for the day.  But we didn’t expect the changes that would take place within our little nuclear families and how we would be able to see our lives unfold through this simple annual vacation.

Truro began when we each had only 1 child.  They were our sweet boys, @JonasButz, and @JacobWebb.  Giggling, lego loving, beautiful boys who have grown into lovely young men.

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Then we brought our gorgeous, strong, feisty girls into the picture, @CharlotteButz, and @NellWebb.  

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And finally, I brought the sweet third love of my life, @DylanWebb, to the beach.  

 

 ♥     With each addition, the trip has become richer.  Another beautiful thread in my tapestry. We spent the whole year looking forward to this trip.  It was our legacy and became our most important vacation.

It’s not as if we did anything particularly adventurous.  In fact, in response to questions from their friends about what we do all week, the kids like to say “What do we do?  We go to the beach and stay there all day.  Then we go to Provincetown on the rainy day and the Beachcomber for dinner.  Sometimes we have a bonfire on the beach.”  The simplicity of this trip is part of its attraction.  We relax.  We hang out.  We talk.  We play.  We laugh.   It is really pretty magical.

However, it has not always been easy.  As time went on and as anyone would expect, there were the losses.

We have endured the death of our parents and although Truro has been just for our own nuclear families, it became a place for us to heal and remember our own childhood vacations.  We saw suddenly how the simple weekend trips to our Uncle’s home in Maryland to visit our cousins were actually the model for Truro.

We faced divorce and Truro became for each of us in different years a single parent vacation.  The importance of Truro and our connection to it and to each other was never so evident.  The consistency of this trip gave us continuity in the face of change.  Strength and hope that we would always have this to keep us on track.  It seemed like there would always be Truro no matter the personnel changes.

Then there was the addition of driving kids.  I doubt that either of us will ever forget the first time we saw one of the boys take off driving down the road with the other kid in the car.  Without us . . . . .

Now it is the introduction of girlfriends and boyfriends.  God help me but the looming addition of marriages and new babies is something I am not ready for . . . .

All of our children understand the significance of this trip.  They understand the importance of their relationship with each other,  We have very small extended families. In fact, we are almost all of it.  So, nurturing these relationships, keeping them intact and strong, has been reinforced by us over and over again.  Particularly through Truro.

I am writing this from our porch in Truro.  Surrounded by teenagers.  As I write I listen to them banter on and have such a sense of joy that I can hardly stand it.  I see what we have created.  What my brother and I have given our children.  I feel so thankful to have had this experience and I am certain that they have the same feeling of gratitude.   Even if it is not something they notice now in so many words.  They will.  And for that, I feel immense satisfaction and delight for these, my people.